While waiting for the traffic lights to change at the cross junction outside the library, i took shelter under a tree, and for the first time in my life i started to notice the tree i am under. Trunk, branches, leaves… a nice canopy to shield us from the elements. The old tree is not pretty but it sure is hardy. Thought of the popular pictorial book, The Giving Tree.
Thought of this play.
It is so easy to generalise. That is why i love theatre- it is the stories that make sense, not the news reports, not the statistics… every story is unique.

Two more weeks to the opening of The Impending Storm – The Silly Little Girl and the Funny Old Tree! Needless to say, the creative team, crew and cast are busy with rehearsals now. Let’s play paparazzi and find out what they are up to!

隆重介绍：台湾中生代知名导演符宏征拨冗担任这次演出的导演！宏征以郭宝崑的作品《傻姑娘与怪老树》为创作蓝本，将怪老树延伸为一个家中体弱多病的年长者。
Here’s our guest director, Fu Hong Zheng, a heavyweight director from Taiwan! Adapting from Kuo Pao Kun’s original script, The Silly Little Girl and the Funny Old Tree, Fu will be applying the Funny Old Tree as a symbol for the sick elderly in a family in this upcoming performance.

这个演出也充分利用演员的形体动作来营造舞台气氛哦。
This performance will also utilise the actors’ physicality and body movements to enhance your theatre experience.

小时候，父母推着年幼的我们到处游玩……
Back then when we were small, our parents are always there to guide us along…

长大了，我们是否会推着以轮椅代步的父母安享晚年呢？
Now that we are adults, are we there to look after our wheelchair-bound parents?

他们到底想对他做什么呢？想知道就一定要来观看结合写实与诗意的《暴雨将至 – 傻姑娘与怪老树》，一起重新审视两代人的亲子关系！
What are they doing to him? Come find out in The Impending Storm – The Silly Little Girl and the Funny Old Tree, a provocative presentation- both realistic and lyrical that examines the complex relationship between the old and the young today!

The Silly Little Girl and the Funny Old Tree live in a fantastical and topsy-turvy world. The original story by Kuo Pao Kun tells of a Funny Old Tree with leaves growing from where its roots should be, yet it somehow attracts the affection of a Silly Little Girl. However, the appearance of a bulldozer destroys the tranquility and the Funny Old Tree is due to be felled……

Guest Director Fu Hong Zheng now tweaks the story to have the Old Tree symbolise the elderly in today’s society. Through the dialectic engagement between the older and the younger generations, the play extensively draws out magical yet realistic scenes in the juxtaposition of several themes: indifference versus passion, brutality versus tenderness, inertia versus determination, the intangible versus the tangible, and more.

A decade ago, heavyweight Taiwanese director Fu Hong Zheng presented Descendants of the Eunuch Admiral in the first Kuo Pao Kun Festival to wide acclamation. He now returns to collaborate with The Theatre Practice in a reinterpretation of one of Kuo Pao Kun’s most famous works.